Film Fest Gent and the World Soundtrack Academy announce the final wave of nominees for the prestigious World Soundtrack Awards 2022 in the categories Discovery of the Year, Public Choice Award, Best Original Score for a Belgian Production and the Sabam Award for Best Original Composition by a Young Composer. The list features lots of WSA newcomers, such as experimental band Son Lux, Japanese singer-songwriter Eiko Ishibashi and composer Batu Sener. Nainita Desai, Discovery of the Year 2021, continues her incredible trajectory as a possible winner of the Public Choice Award 2022. All nominees for the WSA2022 have now been revealed. The Academy also announces one winner: this year's WSA Industry Award goes to the Alliance for Women Film Composers.
After the announcement of the nominations for Film Composer of the Year, Television Composer of the Year and Best Original Song one month ago, Film Fest Gent and the World Soundtrack Academy announce a second and final wave of nominations for the World Soundtrack Awards 2022. Where the first wave honoured chiefly seasoned composers and WSA favourites such as Hans Zimmer, Daniel Pemberton, Daniel Hart, Natalie Holt and Nicholas Britell, the second wave allows new talent to take the stage.
With the Discovery of the Year Award, the WSA wants to put rising film music talent in the spotlight. This year’s Discovery nominees are for the most part relatively new to the field of composition for film but have extensive experience composing for TV or as musicians in a wide range of genres, which makes for a very compelling selection. Swedish composer Karl Frid is nominated for his iconoclastic score, a mix of opera with trap and hip hop, for Ninja Thyberg’s Pleasure, which won the Explore Award at Film Fest Gent 2021. Eiko Ishibashi convinced the Academy with her mesmerising, jazzy music for the Oscar-winning Murakami adaptation Drive My Car. American post-rock/electronica band Son Lux made an audacious score for box office hit Everything Everywhere All At Once by the Daniels. Maurizio Malagnini enchanted audiences with a ravishing score for the science-fiction ballet film Coppelia and Isobel Waller-Bridge seized the opportunity to create a striking, dramatic soundtrack for the spy thriller Munich: The Edge of War.
In addition, the general public was given the opportunity to vote for their favourite film score of the past year. The person who has received the most votes will take home the Public Choice Award. In the running are: Belgian composer Michelino Bisceglia for the animation biopic Charlotte; Joseph Metcalfe, John Coda and Grant Kirkhope for The King’s Daughter with Pierce Brosnan in the role of King Louis XIV; Discovery of the Year 2021 Nainita Desai for the documentary 14 Peaks: Nothing is Impossible; Frank Ilfman for all-female action feature Gunpowder Milkshake; and Batu Sener for Ice Age spin-off The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild.
After last year’s hiatus, the Award for Best Original Score for a Belgian Production celebrates its comeback. Composer Vincent Cahay is nominated for Fabrice du Welz’ Inexorable, Blaise Delafosse aka Demusmaker for Nowhere by Peter Monsaert and French indie pop band The Penelopes for the family feature SpaceBoy by Olivier Pairoux.
Finally, the Academy announces the nominations for the Sabam Award for Best Original Composition by a Young Composer, worth 2,500 euros. The participating composers were asked to write a score for a scene from Nosferatu, Murnau's timeless classic which celebrates its 100th birthday this year. Italian composer Giacomo Rita, American composer Robert Wallace and Greek composer John Konsolakis are the young film music talents competing for this award.
The Academy is proud to announce one winner as well. This year's WSA Industry Award goes to the Alliance for Women Film Composers. The AWFC is a community of composers that strives to support and celebrate the work of women composers. Catherine Joy, President of the Alliance for Women Film Composers, will be present in Ghent to receive the award. The WSA Industry Award is presented to an individual or organisation that makes a notable and significant contribution to the film music industry. Composer Robert Kraft received the previous WSA Industry Award in 2012. |
